Apple's Good News, Bad News

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Apple's Good News, Bad News

Apple's Mac OS X Server suffers from a fatal bug that makes it almost useless as a Web server, a German computer magazine reported.

According to c't, Apple's "crash-proof" server operating system crashes when a relatively small number of Web queries are processed simultaneously.

c't editors said that during routine testing, Apple's server software entered a state of "system panic" when presented with 32 or more Common Gateway Interface (CGI) script queries. The machine froze, requiring a hardware reboot, c't said.

"The exploit offers crackers an easy way to sabotage servers," the magazine said.

CGI scripts are commonly used during Web-site searches, and 32 queries is equivalent to the load generated by several hundred simultaneous users, c't said.

Apple launched Mac OS X in March, positioning it as the company's first modern OS. It sports features like protected memory and preemptive multitasking, which are supposed to make it crash-proof.

Apple also released parts of the system to the open-source programming community to great hoopla.

c't said the problem may lie at the heart of the OS, in the system kernel, which could mean that the system is fundamentally flawed. The system should at worst only slow down or issue error messages, but not crash, c't said.

However, while running its tests, c't was also running a built-in benchmarking utility, Apache Benchmark.

"The fact that Apache can single-handedly crash the entire system puts Apple's implementation ... in question," the magazine said.

Russell Brady, an Apple spokesman, said company engineers had reproduced the problem but that it appears to occur only when the benchmarking software is also running.

"We're taking it very seriously," he said. "We only heard about it yesterday [Thursday] and we are still looking into it. If it turns out the problem is real, we'll issue a fix as soon as possible."

c't said it has written a script (CGI Panic) for Mac OS X Server administrators to test the exploit. The magazine is recommending that administrators deactivate CGI scripts.In other news, Motorola strongly denied reports that its new PowerPC processor has been delayed.

According to several Apple news sites, the new chip, dubbed G4 and destined for Apple's next generation of Macintoshes, is suffering from manufacturing problems that could push its debut back to next year.

Swearingen said that the G4 will debut as planned in the third quarter.

"You will see an announcement from Motorola on the G4 processor in the third quarter, and the announcement will involve multiple companies in multiple markets," he said.

Swearingen also denied rumors of trouble with a new copper manufacturing process developed by IBM, Motorola's partner in developing the PowerPC chip.

"We've been sampling the part with copper technology for some time now and we've been sending them to a lot more people than Apple," Swearingen said.

The G4 chips are eagerly awaited. Debuting at 400 MHz and up, the chips will feature an advanced graphics-and-telecom technology, known as AltiVec, that is expected to blow the socks off of Intel's MMX instruction set.

As well as powering Macs, the chip is expected to be widely used in embedded applications, especially in the telecom industry.